By Maya Carducci
Everyone’s fitness journey is different, and that is okay. Personally, I started my health and fitness journey in 2016, when I started college. It has been a great learning and growing experience for me. However, here are the top things I wish I had learned before starting my journey.
Diet matters. When I first started my journey, I did workouts roughly 4 days a week with a combination of cardio and weight training. This was great, but what wasn’t that great was my diet. I ate from the unlimited buffet at the dining hall for lunch and dinner, but skipped breakfast. The food options were not always great quality meals and there was pressure from my peers to eat unhealthy or go out to fast food joints in my college town. It took significantly longer for me to see results because I didn’t realize that diet plays more of a role than the workouts. Going into my second year, I started eating more healthy at my apartment, but I was not eating enough calories or macronutrients to balance out my workout routine. My slow progress was finally amplified when I started intuitively eating and fueling my body efficiently for the workouts.
Lift heavy. My workouts started out body-weight to light to moderate weight. I never pushed myself to lift heavy and lower reps. While I was still building strength with my workouts, I was not building muscle. To get the results I desired, I started lifting heavy, not doing hours of cardio, and pushing myself to progress to lift heavier weights.
It is easy to compare yourself to other people during your fitness journey, but ultimately you have to listen to your body and do the necessary things for your goals and body type. The fitness and diet routine for a fitness influencer may not necessarily work exactly the same way for your body. Do your research beforehand about workouts and diet/macros before you start your journey for more efficient results. Want more fitness and nutrition tips? JPFIT4LIFE can help. Set up your FREE virtual consultation TODAY by emailing 1jpfit4life1@gmail.com or calling 802-522-6521.
Comments